


All Over but the Waiting

by Immicolia



Category: Durarara!!, Vamp!
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Implied Relationship, M/M, One sided relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 15:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1190637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immicolia/pseuds/Immicolia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Contains some spoilers for DRRR!!x13.  Vague-ish crossover with Vamp!</p>
<p>In which Shinichi worries about Izaya and Hackey Mouse is obnoxious (but surprisingly concerned about Shinichi’s mental heath).</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Over but the Waiting

**Author's Note:**

> After reading Vamp! IV I fell in love with Hackey Mouse and became convinced that he and he and Shinichi are both a pair of jerks who dwell in the digital realm and annoy the crap out of each other. And as such I want all the stories about them being jerks ever.
> 
> For those not familiar with Vamp!, Hackey's actual name is QAWSED (pronounced as 'keyboard') while 'Hackey Mouse' is what members of the Organization he's a part of call him. Given my belief that they are jerks to one another, I feel that Shinichi would be cold and dismissive and call him QAWSED all the time. I also tried my ass off to mimic Hackey's speech patterns and hopefully didn't make too much of a mess of it.

Izaya leaves Ikebukuro, and Tokyo in general, so quickly and quietly that most don’t even realize it. But then that is the point. Izaya is battered and beaten to the point where even his survival is currently questionable. He needs to retreat to lick his numerous wounds, both physical and metaphorical, and he needs privacy to do so. And so Izaya vanishes with only the faintest of traces that Shinichi can find.

Shinichi assures himself that he’s not worried. Izaya is far too stubborn and narcissistic to die like this. He will force himself to survive by sheer force of will alone and bounce back twice as vicious. If anything Shinichi should be worried about _that_ particular fact.

The fact that Izaya is currently far away from Ikebukuro is good. It will be even better if it stays that way and Izaya simply never shows his face in Ikebukuro ever again. Although if that were to happen Shinichi will miss him in a strange, masochistic, sort of way.

Not that Shinichi will ever admit to this. Not even while sitting in absolute silence, playing the last few glimpses he caught of Izaya on various security cameras through his mind. Not while he sends a taunting text to Izaya’s phone saying “I think it would be healthiest for you to lie low for the rest of your life.” Not while he waits for a response, _any_ kind of response, to prove that Izaya hasn’t slipped away, not just yet.

But he’s not worried.

<Tsukumoya~>

The voice that ultimately comes is a crackling, mechanical, purr through his senses and Shinichi doesn’t respond. It’s not what he’s waiting for. It’s honestly the last thing he wants to deal with at the moment.

<Yo, things got all quiet over here. Are ya really that broken up over what happened with your pet human?>

He doesn’t move. He doesn’t react. Now that it’s come the taunt is expected. Clumsy. QAWSED wants under his skin the same way that Shinichi wants under QAWSED’s on occasion. They do this all the time and it’s tiresome. It’s not even worth telling the rodent that it’s tiresome because he will never listen. QAWSED will keep pushing and Shinichi is not in the mood for it, not right now. Best to ignore him.

<Don’t tell me you’re hidin’ out here? Are ya in mournin’ or somethin’? It ain’t like your little pet human’s dead… is he?>

A split second of blessed quiet and Shinichi knows that he’s checking. Going over the same records that Shinichi did, although in this case QAWSED is simply looking for another angle. If Izaya were dead he’d change his tactics. If their positions were reversed Shinichi would do the same.

Although QAWSED doesn’t particularly have anyone he cares about for this sort of situation to arise.

Not that Shinichi particularly cares about Izaya either. It’s simply….

<Man, you’re a goddamn wreck. Isolatin’ yourself ain’t healthy for guys like us, ya know.>

Fingers. Icy sharp fingers — except not quite, things like fingers don’t exist here but fingers still make for an excellent metaphor — that hook into the edge of Shinichi’s sense of self and pull him around so they’re as close to face to face as creatures without forms can be. They don’t do this often. QAWSED is prone to taking potshots and so is Shinichi when he bothers to retaliate or take any sort of action on his own. They each have their ‘territory’, servers that they view as home. Shinichi stays in Japan; QAWSED seems to like western Europe. Other than petty squabbles and the occasional childish DDOS attack they each keep to their own area. It’s not _quite_ a cartoonish line drawn down the middle of the digital realm, but it’s close.

Which means the only reason QAWSED is here is to mock and gloat, and likely not in the way that Shinichi did with Izaya. (don’t think about Izaya) He won’t give up until he sees Shinichi crack and break.

Shinichi refuses to give him the satisfaction.

[Go away, QAWSED.]

<Ya got so quiet. I was wonderin’ if your server died with you in it.>

[I have redundancies in place to deal with that possibility. Go _away_ , QAWSED.]

Another brief second of silence and Shinichi can’t help but hope that QAWSED will actually listen to him. That he’ll just be left alone to the dark and the quiet and the waiting and the playing a thousand and one moments spent toying with Izaya over and over in his mind.

But that kind of peace is too much to hope for.

<Ya know, I was gonna get on your case about how stupid you’re actin’ right now.>

[You mean that’s not precisely what you’re doing at the moment.]

<Nope. Cause you’re so pathetic right now it’s way too easy.>

[I don’t want your pity, QAWSED.]

<Then stop bein’ all pitiful.>

[Why are you even here?] Shinichi asks, shifting tactics and not wanting to think too closely about how ‘pitiful’ he’s coming off as right now. [You never come directly into my server space.]

<I’ve never seen ya go dark like this before either.>

[I’m supposed to believe that you were worried? You’ve shown every indication that you’d be happier if I didn’t exist at all.]

<The feelin’s mutual, trust me.> There’s a faint ripple from QAWSED that might be equivalent to a sigh. <I dunno. You just fadin’ out would be weird. Don’t do that, kay?>

[I assure you I won’t. The thought didn’t even cross my mind.]

It’s the truth, even though he can almost feel the doubt radiating from QAWSED. The idea of locking himself away before finding out Izaya’s fate leaves Shinichi feeling even more tense and edgy than the waiting does. He needs to know if Izaya will survive first. After that….

After that it’s hard to say what his reaction will be. Shinichi is very pointedly _not_ thinking about what his reaction might be if Izaya doesn’t live.

Not that it matters if QAWSED believes him or not. QAWSED’s opinion will never particularly matter to him.

[Are you through now? Since you seem to be opposed to goading me in my current pitiable state.]

<Sure, sure. I’ll just call truce ‘till your little pet human’s feelin’ better….>

[Will you stop calling him my ‘pet’ while you’re at it, because I certainly don’t want to claim him as one.]

<Nah. Enjoy the break. Maybe I’ll design some viruses for ya as a gift for when he gets better.>

[I can hardly wait.]

Not that his parting shot particularly matters. QAWSED is already gone and without another thought spared towards his intruder Shinichi goes back to waiting.

Waiting and assuring himself that he isn’t worried about Izaya.


End file.
